


The Stuff of Legends Raid

by animefreak



Category: The Mummy (1999), The Rat Patrol
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-14
Updated: 2017-08-08
Packaged: 2018-05-20 15:05:38
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 16
Words: 6,646
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6013240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/animefreak/pseuds/animefreak
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Full edit 8-4-2017  A woman on the trail of an SS Captain and a Doctor from a camp in southern Poland looks very familiar to the men of the Rat Patrol. When her quarry is tracked to the canyon where the tribes of the Medjai are settled, Troy and his men find themselves in an uneasy alliance with Hauptman Dietrich and his men. And where are the men of the Medjai?</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

The Stuff of Legends Raid

Cheri

The desert. I am home, only I’m not. This is the Sahara, half a world away from the American Southwest where I intend to settle if I ever get back there. It’s been four months since I destroyed the death camp on the German/Polish border where Gabe died. 

Gabe … died. I am still having difficulty with that concept, in spite of carrying his Thor’s hammer on a thong around my neck. Gabe, the man who pulled me out of my self-destructive life when I was fifteen is gone, forever. I should have cried, but I have no tears for his passing. I want to scream and destroy everything and every one who had a hand in his death. I want Gabe back. But there are no tears for his passing, for my grief, just this numb blackness in my heart where my dark Irish Viking once lived. 

Some of the men, I use the term loosely for the people who worked the death camp, were not there the night Gabe died. I’ve tracked the two survivors to the desert. I know they are still seeking the army they were attempting to construct on the Polish border, a flood of monsters to send against the world. Creatures only spoken of in legends and superstitious beliefs to be unleashed on a rational, science based society. They were ready to crush the world in their zeal to conquer it when they discovered a part of Gabe’s secrets. Just as well they did not discover mine, I was ‘just a woman’ and of little consequence or interest to them save as a victim of their lusts and experiments. 

If it costs me my life, I will stop these monsters before they cause any more grief, if I can. It it takes my live to destroy them, I will pay that price. I will pay with other lives as well. Nothing matters to me except their final solution. Or should that be dissolution? I’m no longer sure I care. 

I am calling myself Ysabet Rakocy, a Middle European survivor of the horrors of a concentration camp. I let them know that Ekhard and Goethe are here, in the Sahara, looking at setting up a new camp here where there will be even less supervision than there was on the Polish border. I have offered my services to the Allied commanders because I can identify Col. Wolfrick Ekhard of the SS and Dr. Stedman Goethe of the medical corps. It is hard to make the soldiers who fight this war understand that they must be stopped before they create monsters out of the old tales. They are men of science, aside from the logic of three on a match on the battle field, they give superstition no credence, even those of the Arab populations around them. So I give them information that the two are the vanguard of a new war machine, that they will harness the Arabs and force them to work for the German army by use of methods pioneered in Poland.

They do not like the sound of that and are willing to let me lead one of their desert harrier squads to where the villains are setting up for business. I do not have access to the orders that brought these men here, but I cannot believe there is any innocence in them. Just like me, there is only blood and death wherever they go.


	2. Chapter 2

Troy

We got word Sanders had a new mission for us, something hush-hush about the German SS moving into the area. We headed in to the established HQ and reported in for a quick briefing before heading out into the desert again. I don’t like the sound of the SS being involved in the war here. We’ve run into individuals now and again and they’re not regular military. 

As things look now, we won’t be up against that infuriating Captain Dietrich which is borderline comforting. I know he has no love of the black shirts, but his capabilities of command are more than enough to keep us at bay if he really needs to do so. 

I walked into Sanders office and stopped to stare at the young woman seated on the corner of his desk looking over a map. What the hell? Blue black hair caught back in a long braid, pale oval face and the green eyes I remembered as she glanced up at me and then returned to her study of the paper on the desk with not a flicker of recognition in her eyes. She was dressed primly, like a school teacher in a skirt, blouse and jacket. It was difficult to believe I wasn’t looking at Dr. Yuconovich, yet without her confirmation, maybe it wasn’t.

Sanders turned from the window where he was standing staring at the sand outside. “Troy,” he acknowledged my presence. We traded salutes as he moved back to his desk, the limp from his encounter with shrapnel barely detectable. “At ease, Sargent. Join us.” He motioned me to the desk.

“Miss Rakocy, this is Sgt. Sam Troy, he’ll be leading the squad. Troy, this is Miss Ysabet Rakocy. She says she escaped from a detention camp just inside the Polish border of Germany. The camp was doing some kind of research on the prisoners.” Sanders grimaced at that. I didn’t care for the thought either. There were some disquieting rumors coming out of the European theater of conflict. 

“Miss Rakocy has been tracking two of the men who were in charge there,” he continued. “Both her information and ours indicate that they’re seeking something in the desert.” He gave a slight snort of derision. Sanders was not impressed by the Nazi fascination with the artifacts of legend. 

“Miss Rakocy,” I addressed the woman.

“Call me Ysabet,” she countered, barely looking up as she touched a spot on the map. “Col. Sanders says you are familiar with this area.”

I took a look. Yeah, I was familiar with it. We’d been through there chasing the Germans and Dr. Yuconovich, who looked enough like this woman to be her twin, or maybe older sister. Our reports did not describe everything we’d encountered at what had once been the Oasis at Ahm Sher.

That was one wild ride. I must have frowned because she looked up at me then, that disconcertingly direct gaze telling me she sensed something even though I had yet to speak. She raised one arched eyebrow in query.

“We’ve been through there. Wind eroded rock with a couple of what we’d call canyons back home. There was a tribe of Bedouin camped in there four months ago.”

“Water?” she asked.

I nodded. Water, shelter from the wind, a good place for a small town of tents and grazing for animals, I said as much. “Controlled access as well.” I pointed out the two places where we noted openings. I didn’t mention that I hoped Ardeth Bay and his people had moved on in the last few months, even knowing that it was a very permanent base of operations for his people. 

“Water, people, control … That’s why they’re headed there. It gives them a contained area, a potential workforce …” her voice trailed off. Her mind was somewhere else for a moment. Then she nodded and looked up at me. “Col. Sanders says you can get me there.”

“Now wait a minute,” I started to object. I hadn’t been crazy about taking Dr. Yuconovich anywhere in the desert which was why we ended up trailing her when the Germans pulled her in and took off. There is a war going on.

“There are no photographs of the two men we’re looking for,” she pointed out reasonably. “I need to identify them so you can capture them.”

She shouldn’t have been staring into my eyes when she said that. She was lying. We both knew it.


	3. Chapter 3

Cheri

Sgt. Troy looked surprised when I indicated I had not heard of Ahm Shere, the place the Germans were looking for when he and his men were in the area before. That coupled with his look indicating he expected something from me was curious.

I made a note to investigate his reaction, once I had time. If I had time.

Since intelligence put my quarry in the area of their earlier chase, Sgt. Troy and his men were the perfect escort. The Sgt. did not look nearly as dubious about my being with them as his superior seemed although it was clear he was not enthusiastic about my company either. Our eyes met as I told them that only I could identify the two men we sought. 

Something in his dark eyes told me he understood I was lying, if not why. There was nothing he could do about it. I had made certain there were no photographs of the two men in Africa. 

It was settled. Sgt. Troy and his men would retrace their previous route to the possible Bedouin encampment and then we would see where it led, or so they thought. They were looking at capturing the bad guys, possibly as without conflict as possible. 

He didn’t know what I did. I knew how this would end. Blood and death.


	4. Chapter 4

Hitch

When the Sarge came back with what looked like that Dr. Yuconovich we’d worked with several months ago in tow I was surprised. I thought she and Baldy were long gone. Tully looked up from stowing our supplies and I could see he was thrown as well.

Before I could say anything to greet the lady, Troy introduced her. Ysabet Rakocy. I could see she didn’t recognize me or Tully or Sgt. Moffitt, but I was also damn sure the name wasn’t hers. There was something creepy about the dame, even as demurely dressed as she was. Something was wrong with the woman, but if Troy said we were taking her with us, we’d work with her and see what shook out. 

After a quick briefing, we put her bag in the jeep and got ready to head out. As Ysabet climbed into the jeep, I knew there was a difference. She didn’t move the same. The Doc moved with an incredible grace born of long experience. Ysabet wasn’t clumsy, but there was a fluidity she lacked. I wondered if maybe she was a sister or a cousin. 

If it weren’t for the eyes, I’d buy the no relation idea, but they were just the perfect match.


	5. Chapter 5

Moffitt

I could tell we were all thinking the same thing when Miss Rakocy came over with Troy. The name with its obvious Eastern European sound surprised me. Her very faint accent was perfect. If this was the woman we’d shared an impossible adventure with months ago, she obviously did not remember us. I could swear her lack of recognition was genuine.

Hitch met my gaze with a look of inquiry as Troy briefed us.

“That’s near where we met Bay and Alex,” I identified the area on the map.

“That’s what I thought,” Troy agreed. “I figure we head straight in, look at what’s going on, and go from there.”

“Sounds good.” For a moment I thought our unexpected guest would object. “Reservations?”

She shook her head, looking thoughtful. “Alex is not a Bedouin name,” she said, looking at me.

“No. He’s English, the son of an American adventurer and an English Archaeologist,” I explained. “He was visiting an old friend of the family.” I didn’t bother telling her he was there because his parents were involved in something dangerous on the Continent and did not want the teenager involved. I hadn’t understood why they thought he’d be safer with Bay than in England, but both the young man and his guardian seemed to think that they were correct until the inexplicable landed on them.

“Dangerous place to be,” was her sole comment. It was obvious her thoughts were elsewhere.

Troy snorted. “More dangerous than expected,” he agreed. “Long story. Let’s get moving.”

So, Troy wasn’t leaping to ask questions or explain anything. The rest of us followed suit.


	6. Chapter 6

Ardeth

The war keeps coming closer to my people. We survived the brush with the demons at Ahm Shere, where the cursed pyramid of the Scorpion King once was. Getting Alex back from the Germans and the horrors at Ahm Shere was a great relief, although it also left me with two dozen women, a number of dogs and goats and the wife I did not think to have.

Fadiyah would have put aside all morality and modesty and come to my bed had I asked it of her. My mother and aunt were not in favor of my taking a woman of no background to wife, especially when they saw how pale she is. I listened and then told them that this one had no fear of being with me, unlike the other women of our tribes.

After a week of having her constantly there, doing the meanest of chores without complaint, doing whatever was asked of her or told to her, even from the children of my sister, they came to see that there was no evil in the girl and started making wedding plans.

Fadiyah entered into all the plans with a becoming shyness, or so I was told. I wonder if they knew she came to sit quietly with me when we had free time. We married with the appropriate blessings of both our ancient beliefs and the holy man of Allah. That was three weeks ago. Now I have word from one of the other tribes that the Germans are at Hamunaptra again and heading this way.

The Creature is gone. Still, there is much gold buried beneath the sands at the ancient city of the dead; much that the Europeans would seek for its value of metal and jewels, or for the history it represents. As the leader of my people, I must decide whether it is for us to continue to guard the site from outsiders. What magic may still lay beneath the sand? There should be none, yet the idea of someone digging into that ground disturbs me.

My people are safe enough here, sheltered in the great rise of stone that soars around us. True, the Germans know where this camp is, but there is nothing of value here aside from the wells that tap water. Alex is still here, he and the younger men can handle anything that comes up. The one called Dietrich holds most of the area and he has shown no desire to return to this place. We will take a look at what is happening at Hamunaptra and decide then whether to fight or return here.


	7. Chapter 7

Dietrich

I have new orders. There was word of a convoy of supplies to be guarded, an excellent target for the desert rats Sgt. Troy of the Allies leads. That assignment went to a much less experienced Hauptman. My men and I have been assigned to accompany and assist Col. Wolfrick Ekhard and Dr. Stedman Goethe with their project.

As yet, I have not been given more information. Ekhard is SS. Dr. Goethe seems to have a great rapport with Col. Ekhard. I have not been able to find out what their “project” is. With luck, we will not be assigned to them for very long. Hauptmann Drost is very young and will need back up before he is through with the Rat Patrol. Or they with him. 

“Hauptman Dietrich.” Col. Ekhard stood in the opening of my tent. 

I gave a desultory wave of my hand for him to enter, ignoring his crisp ‘Heil, Hitler’ motion. “Col. What can I do for you?”

He unrolled a map of the desert on my desk. “You are familiar with this area.” Statement, not question. 

I looked and nodded. There was no point in denying what was common knowledge in my field reports.

“Excellent. Your report indicated there was a good sized population of the locals in a wadi or canyon about here.” He pointed to where I had marked the location of the Medjai camp, although I had not designated it as such in my reports. 

“Four months ago, there was a tribe of Bedouin there. It is doubtful that they are still there. The tribes are very mobile.”

Col. Ekhard sneered at the comment. “Much like the despicable thieves we call gypsies in the Motherland. Soon, they will no longer be an issue. Whether the Arab rabble is still in residence or not is irrelevant, Hauptman Dietrich. If there is a water source, this canyon will form the basis of our new resettlement camp. You will lead us there. You do understand, do you not?” 

Why do those in the SS insist on filling everything they say with such misplaced menace? Am I supposed to be afraid of him?

“My orders are to see you and Dr. Goethe to the area, Col. Ekhard. I will follow my orders,” I assured him, though the words tasted bitter in my mouth. I do not like dealing with the SS. I was not enthusiastic about returning to the region, there were too many memories of things I would prefer to forget. Nor was I in favor of the SS penchant for destruction.


	8. Chapter 8

Cheri

The men aren't happy about flying south with their vehicles in the belly of a huge cargo plane, but it's faster than driving the entire way and may mean that we get there before the Germans do. We have to stop them.

It’s a little unnerving how the men keep watching me, it’s like they know me and are waiting for me to drop the act. Except they don't know me and I have never met them before, any of them, that I can remember. None of them are names that Gabe mentioned to me. If I wasn’t so concerned with my mission, I might try to find out more. As it is, I don't understand, but I don't care as long as they do not get in my way. If we survive dealing with those monsters, I’ll consider trying to figure out what’s going on with them.

The African desert is much like the Mojave. Sand. Hard sand, soft sand, dunes that shift overnight with the desert winds, rills and rivulets of sand that can confuse the mind. Even after flying into the nearest place we could land, there was a long trek to the area where Troy and his men had last seen the people they called the Medjai. Pharoah's guards. That was confusing. I knew the term, but the pharonic line the Medjai protected was long dead when Ptolemy took the throne. There was no logic to a tribe calling themselves by the same name, especially since the advent of Mohammed and the faith he inspired. There have been no Medjai for at least two and a half thousand years. 

Yet Troy and his men speak of them led by a man called Ardeth Bey. Ardith? That there were twelve tribes that followed Allah, yet also believed in the ancient gods of Egypt. It’s intriguing, but I don’t have time for mysteries. Why is it always twelve tribes? Are they some how related to the lost tribes of Israel? 

I resolutely pushed the questions out of my mind as we dropped out of the sky and coasted in to land on a hard packed strip of sand, unloaded the jeeps and set out. The Blue Nile welcomed me although I'd never been there before. 

Hitch and Tully checked their jeeps to make certain they were in good order. They seemed so young until I met their eyes. There I saw the fighting men of all the ages, death, blood, destruction and pride. There was unquestioning loyalty in these men, all of them. I hoped I wouldn't have to betray them to complete what I was starting. Only time and the enemy could tell me that. 

I considered telling them the truth of what Dr. Goethe and his supporting officer had been doing at their previous post. They did not look like the sort of men who would believe in monsters, not real monsters as opposed to the ones I hunted now. If I was lucky, they would never find out.


	9. Chapter 9

Deitrich

I escorted Dr. Goethe and his people into the desert. Even my men have been uneasy around the men of the SS, as few of them as are accompanying the doctor and the Colonel. We have arrived at the canyon where Bay’s tribe was four months ago. I was hoping they had moved on, migrating away from the oasis and the protected area where I had seen them before to follow their animals to more fertile grazing areas. Bay and his men are gone, but the women and children are still here. I do not care for the way Dr. Goethe and his people look at the Arabs here. I am not certain I would care for it no matter who they were dealing with.

As expected, the Doctor and his people look on the migrant population as something less than human. I admit I once shared this prejudice, but Bay and his people were civilized tent dwellers. Beyond his actions in helping to defeat the monsters we defeated at Ahm Shere, I developed a respect for him and for his desire to keep his people out of the war.

Now the war has come to his camp. It is not my position to question orders, but Dr. Goethe has left a bad taste when he speaks of the Medjai and his look as he regarded the women and children in the encampment boded ill.

I will be happy to get back to my normal duties. Once we have assisted in setting up the Doctor's camp, my men and I will be leaving. There is a war in the desert that has nothing to do with this camp. I will be relieved 

If I am honest, this mission bothers me as much as the one to find Ahm Shere, possibly more. There is no indication of the horror we met there, yet there is a feeling of being … observed. There is a possibility is is only the desert rats who have arrived.


	10. Chapter 10

Dr. Goethe

I can tell that Hauptman Dietrich is dissatisfied with his part in this mission. While he is a well recommended soldier, with many battles to his credit, he does not truly fit the perfection we seek for the German people. He has yet to capture or destroy the small patrol the allies have repeatedly sent against our forces in the desert. Still, he came highly recommended for his fighting spirit, his dogged determination and his strategic abilities, as well as his command of the loyalty of his men. I believe he will make an excellent addition to my program. There is a wolfish quality to the Hauptman, lean and deadly.

Separating him from his men is of paramount importance. Their loyalty can be a problem until they see the results of my work. Then they will be clamoring to become the creatures I create to win this war. Once we are done, then we can destroy them. There will be no room for my soldiers in the new world order.

I do not care for the way the Hauptman has learned the local language. He speaks to these degenerate beings as though they were on a par with the Aryan race. This is my only issue with the Hauptman becoming a part of this experiment. Still, I believe I can make him into a better warrior for the Homeland.

It is a pity that the males are missing from the camp, leaving only women, children and a few old men. The children may be useful. The men will enjoy the women until I am through with them. The old men will be the first we dispose of, none of them will survive the experiments, as the old did not before the camp was destroyed. 

Hauptman Dietrich has given orders for his men to assist in setting up my quarters and setting the fences to hold in my subjects. Soon, I will be on the way to my creations. 

It is a pity my greatest success died as he did. I still do not quite understand what happened with that one and his female. She should not have been strong enough to get out, much less to create the destruction she did. There was a traitor among my people. I will eventually find and destroy the one who helped her, or the several. I have a special experiment in mind for the female when I find her. Oh, yes, I will find her.


	11. Chapter 11

Moffitt

There are signs of a convoy ahead of us. Hitch and Tully are restless. We are all remembering what happened here before. Yet the woman we all think of as Dr. Yuconovich shows no sign of recognizing the area other than knowing of it from her information and the map. I have no explanation for why she does not remember us and what happened at Ahm Shere. Then again, if she is not Cheri and is only Ysabet Rakocy … I am having a hard time reconciling the physical presence, her knowledge of languages, which slipped out while discussing one of my father’s digs last night, and her not being ...

That way lies madness. Troy says we should keep our minds on the mission and look at the mystery of Ysabet/Cheri later. I am trying, but so much of how this woman carries herself is reminiscent of how Cheri did, although it seems that Dr. Yuconovich was, not so much older, but more experienced than this woman. Magic did not surprise her and she knew of the Medjai, of Ardeth, of the things we faced at Ahm Shere.

This woman does not know, not yet. Could the other have traveled from another time? Could magic have called her back to us and then sent her home with the man she and Ardeth called Imhotep? Even the man responded to the name, so he was an Imhotep, although even now it is difficult to believe he was a High Priest from 3000 years ago, cursed, imbued with real magic and now with that Dr. Yuconovich wherever she had gone. 

I need to stop chasing these ideas and concentrate on the mission at hand. Given what little intelligence we could get before we took off from headquarters, I am certain that the men we seek will not be kind to the Medjai. I only hope we arrive in time to be of use. Troy thinks it may not be as bad as our guide believes. I'm not certain exactly what I believe yet. There are too many memories too fresh in my mind to be easy on this journey.


	12. Chapter 12

Alex

Wonderful, I get left here because of a sprained shoulder and what happens? The damned Jerry's show up again. Bay's women are hiding me for the time being. Nobody in camp trusts the Germans. Have to admit, what I've heard gives me the creeps. They're putting up a fence, sectioning off the camp from where they're setting up what sounds like a Headquarters for themselves. 

Wish my parents had arrived the way they were supposed to. I'd be gone or they'd be here and the Jerry's would be in trouble. Nothing my Dad and Uncle Ardeth couldn't handle. Easier if he'd been here, though. Ardeth and his men rode out several days ago. Hamunaptra isn't the only place they protect and word came in that the Allies were headed into one of the other places where Egypt buried things that shouldn't be disturbed. 

What is it with these people and mummies? Stupid question. But it isn't the mummies that are the problem, it's the way they seemed to think that placing a curse on their miscreants was a good idea. Maybe if it had just been “Die and remain dead, never enter the afterlife”, that would have been good. No, they have to come up with things like the Hom Dei. 

And then there was that entire mess at what used to be Ahm Shere. Now, there are Germans in the camp and I get to dodge them until Ardeth and his men return.

Ardeth's niece came into the tents in a hurry looking scared. “They want us all out where they can see us,” she told her mother and aunt. All three of the women looked at Fadiyah, the girl we'd rescued from being a sacrifice.

White blonde and blue eyed, she was Ardeth's wife and nearly an albino with her hair and skin so pale. This could be a problem. 

“Darken her hair.”

They all stared at me. 

“Soot and grease, just enough to cover the color,” I repeated.

They burst into a flurry of action then, grabbing poor Fadiyah, ashes and soot from the campfire and tallow. Swiftly they covered her hair and eyebrows in the gunk, then pulled a full blown burka from one of the chests. The Medjai women were not required to cover themselves as many of the tribal women were, but they sometimes dealt with towns where it was advisable to wear the heavy head to foot covering. This one also had a woven veil sheer enough for Fadiyah to look through, but not thin enough anyone could remark her eyes.

I could hear the German soldiers moving through the tents, apparently hauling women and children out into the open from their shelters. I was wondering where to hide when they turned their attention to me and I found myself shrouded in another all encompassing garment. I tried to object, but they weren't listening. As luck would have it, they were just done with me when a man pulled aside the carpet door closing off the tent from the outside.

He commanded us in guttural German. When we indicated we did not understand, he cuffed Ardeth's aunt and shouted at all of us.

A voice I recognized asked a question from outside. The jerk in the tent with us responded. Even without a translation I knew he was being derogatory about the Medjai. The voice I knew called him out of the tent and Hauptman Dietrich stepped in. In fluent Arabic, although not quite the dialect of the Medjai, he asked that we step out of the tent.

“Dr. Goethe is now in charge of the area and he desires to see all of you immediately. I apologize for the ill mannered Corporal who first asked you to step out.”

I wanted to ask him what was going on, but didn't dare. He’d know I wasn’t a girl. I wished my Dad was here. I could tell the Hauptman was unhappy about something. Maybe I could get one of the ladies to talk to him later. We followed him obediently out of the tent and joined the other members of the tribe outside.

Dr. Goethe gave me the creeps immediately. He also refused to speak Arabic, forcing Hauptman Dietrich to translate for him. He and the SS officer and men he'd brought with him looked at us with disdain, as though dealing with inferior beings. There was something horribly wrong here.


	13. Chapter 13

Fadiyah

The heat inside the burqua is much more than I expected. We are all standing in the sun, no shade and the sun is high overhead. We stand together, my husband’s family close around me and the young O’Connell. I am frightened as I have not been in months, since I was rescued. My family has done it’s best to disguise me for fear that my coloring will attract unwanted attention. I do not understand why these things keep happening. I am no different than the others, except that I am pale in a people who are dark of skin and hair and eyes. 

I am glad Ardeth is not here. While I miss him and desire his strong arms around me, while he and our men are free, there is hope for us. I believe this.

What happens now is not magic. It is not the horror behind the opening that wanted me, it is human in origin. We must do what we can to survive and protect the foreigner for my husband’s honor. And because he is amusing and his father is a great friend to my husband.

The foreigners have built a fence, a wall with holes in it, of metal. They stand on one side of it while we are on the other. Only a few men stand on the other side, some of them are in black while the others wear sand colored clothing. They are different, the ones in black. They are not warriors, not like the sand colored ones. I see a face among those that I recognize. I do not know his name, I do not remember it, but he was there when Ardeth rescued me. 

One of the foreigners, a man not in uniform, moves forward and began speaking to us. The one I recognized translates so we could understand the other’s greeting, such as it is. He rambles on and on about the glory of the Reich, whatever that is. I can hear the venom in his voice even if I cannot understand him. The familiar one translates, but with no … fire? As though he does not care for the words, yet there is no menace in them. I am suddenly certain that he does not wish to be here and is not interested in what these others are to do. This troubles me.

I want Ardeth to return, but not to ride into the camp unaware. The man finished speaking. For just a moment, I could see his eyes instead of the glare of the glass. Allah protect us, he is a monster.


	14. Chapter 14

Col. Eckhard

The Afrika Corps has been in Afrika for too long. The Hauptman Dietrich is too familiar with the lazy, dirty tribesmen, even being fluent in their barbaric language. I do not know how his men tolerate such laxness. Although from what I have heard it is part and parcel of his issues with that despicable Allied patrol that continually challenges him. 

If Dr. Goethe is correct in his information and his samples work as he predicts, that will all change. Hauptman Dietrich will be the first of many new leaders of our forces. The thousand year Reich is a reality we will bring to fruition. We build a new world, one where Germany fulfills her destiny as ruler of all nations. A united world under one rule. 

I am convinced we can remove all of the contaminated lower and sub-humans. Our clean Aryan race is the future. 

Hauptman Dietrich’s men are inclined to stay together which is fortunate. While they are following their orders to finish setting the gun emplacements. I will see that their leader is included in Dr. Goethe’s exams


	15. Chapter 15

Dietrich

I have ordered my men to be as quick as possible finishing with the set up of this camp. I do not care for how the doctor and his SS command look at us. There is definitely more to the outpost than I have been told.

Colonel Ekhard has requested a final meeting before we leave. I cannot refuse although I have been hoping to hear from my headquarters assigning my command to another mission. Since we have arrived while the Arab leader is away, I have had no contact with the Bedouin tribesmen. Nor have I seen young O'Connell. If he is still there, the women are protecting him.

“Hauptman --” Lt Huber interrupted my thoughts. 

“Report?”

“The kitchen has been completed, sir. The gun emplacements are almost finished.” He stepped closer to me, a troubled look on his face. “Could I ask the Hauptman a question?” he asked in a less official tone. 

I nodded. I am not certain I have an answer for his question.

“These people helped us,” he began uncertainly. “Why are they being punished?”

Excellent question. Not one I can answer while there are SS around. Possibly not even when there are not. “My orders do not indicate why, Lt. Berlin has not determined that we have a need to know what the Colonel and Dr. Goethe are doing.”

He still looked troubled. He nodded, gave me a salute and left the tent. Were it not for my history with this tribe, I wonder if I would care what happened to these people. Then I wondered how I became so callous. 

I was just thinking that the damnable desert rats would be a welcome intrusion when Edkhard joined me. We exchanged Heil Hitler greetings and he stepped across the tent to my side, looking for something on what was, after all, his desk. 

I jerked away as something stabbed me in the neck. Even as I collapsed, I recognized a hypodermic in his hand, now empty of its contents. Eckhard sported a very satisfied smile.

As from a distance, I heard him call for help and give instructions to two of his men to take me to the doctor. I want to fight them away, but have no control over my body. Some of my men crowd the entrance only to be ordered away. My last clear thought is that we have been duped.


	16. Chapter 16

Troy

Miss Rakosy still hides her truth from us. We’ve all tried to get her to share more of how she got out of the concentration camp. She closes up like a clam. From what we can see from the top of the canyon walls, the Germans are setting up a good sized camp, purpose unknown. They’ve already fenced off the tents of the Medjai and set up an entry check point on the German side of things. This bodes ill for the Medjai. 

Miss Rakocy identifed the short fat guy in glasses as probably Dr. Goethe, but isn’t completely certain about the SS Colonel. The latter has been staying near the German tents. Looks like the Jerry’s got a head start on us to have beat us here. 

It looks like most of Bay’s men are out of the camp. The guns the German’s are putting in at either end of the place will be bad news when Bay and his men come back from wherever they’ve gone. If we try to warn them, we’ll give ourselves away.

“Does it look like the Army will be staying?” Rakocy asked quietly.

I shrugged in answer, keeping an eye on Dietrich as he crossed the hard packed earth and went into on of the sand colored tents. A younger blond man looking like a subordinate went in a few minutes later, staying long enough for a report and exited. 

She tugged on my shoulder, asking for the binoculars. A big man in a black uniform headed into the same tent. She watched as he disappeared inside and nodded. “Eckhard,” she whispered as she handed the binoculars back to me and tuned to head back down the rise of hard rock when a commotion started below us. 

A couple of blackshirts who had been standing nearby went in. Several of Dietrich’s men tried to follow and then the first two men came out supporting Dietrich. He looked unconscious as they dragged him off to another tent, this one the paler color of a medical facility. 

What the hell was going on? I kept watching and the SS man Rakocy identified as Eckhard stepped into the sun. I could see his face clearly and that was the satisfied smile of a man who just got away with something.


End file.
